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Abstract

This article examines police independence in the context of the military police. The author concludes that the independence of the military police to investigate both Criminal Code and Code of Service Discipline offences should be recognized as part of the unwritten constitutional principle associated with the rule of law and as a principle of fundamental justice under section 7 of the Charter. The author examines the increased recognition of the importance of police investigative independence since the Somalia Inquiry, including the recent expansion of the command authority of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal over all military police. The relation between police independence and the rule of law is discussed. The author notes that while the military command structure has a legitimate interest in providing general and public policy guidance to the military police, clause 18.5131 of Bill C-15-which has been introduced but not enacted in Parliament-would violate police independence by enabling the Vice Chair of Defence Staff to issue instructions to the military police in specific cases. Such interference with the investigative independence of the military police would be inconsistent with increased post-Somalia recognition of the importance of police independence and could undermine the application of the rule of law to the Canadian military.